Lord forgive me, sometimes it gets to me a bit when I hear some folks constantly asking, “Is it a sin to…?” Is it a sin to wear make-up? Is it a sin to watch TV? Is it a sin to eat pig? It honestly seems like this is almost the overriding thought on the minds of some people.

Well, thank God. I guess I could also look at it like at least they’re trying to please God by not sinning or doing something wrong. There are far, far more people in the world who are like what it says in Proverbs, “Fools make a mock at sin.” (Proverbs 14:9) For the unbelieving, the whole concept of sin is utterly foreign and abhorrent to them and they reject the whole idea. That’s what I wrote about in the article “What is sin?”.

But there are some Christians who evidently have come to a place where their overriding thought process is to be so fearful of sin and its power in their lives that questions of what is a sin in every affair of everyday life makes this their continual conversation. I find that sad and a misplaced understanding of things.

Is it good to have a tender conscience? Of course, absolutely. Is it good to want to “not be ignorant of the enemy’s devices”? (II Cor. 2:11) Certainly so. We definitely should be on guard in our conscience against sin and not have a light attitude towards the evils in the world or even the sins that rather easily spring up in our own hearts and minds.

But it seems to me that some Christians have not gotten very far in a Scriptural understanding of what sin is. A few verses come to mind among the many on the subject and I’ll share them here. For one, Jesus said, “Not that which enters into the mouth defiles a man, but that which comes out of the mouth defiles a man.” (Mat. 15:11) Or it’s like the verse, “The kingdom of God is not in meat and drink but righteous, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Rom. 14:17) Fundamentally it has rather little to do with what you eat or don’t eat and what you wear or don’t wear.

One of the greatest chapters on the whole subject, which I often think about when I see again the outflow of questions about “Is it a sin…?” is Romans 14. Paul says, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:23) Think about that!

Is it a sin for a woman to wear make-up? Is it a sin to drink beer? The principles in Romans 14 can and should be applied to so many things. Some things can be done in one situation and among some people which would not be appropriate or fitting in another and could be a sin. Paul said, “It is good neither to eat meat or anything whereby your brother is stumbled or is offended.” (Romans 14:21)

Of course, sadly, some people are offended pretty easily and they should be taught to grow up some and to have a more full understanding of the ways of the Lord. Paul said some eat meat and others being weak, only eat herbs. I can’t quote the whole chapter here but I suggest, if you feel you may have questions along this line, to do a real study on Romans 14.

The clinching verses at the end of the chapter say, “Have you faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is the man who condemns not himself in that thing which he allows. And he that eats [or wears make-up or anything else like this] is dammed if he eats if he eats not of faith. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:22 & 23)

But this whole thing can get to be a downward spiral of fear, confusion and particularly condemnation and it ends up being disastrous to your spiritual life. I went through some things like this in my early Christian life and they were really some battles. I wrote about these things in “Conviction or Condemnation”, you might find some things in that article that are pertinent to this subject.

The Bible says we should “Walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4), not walk in a foreboding gloom and cloud of fear that at any second we’re going to be defeated by sin.

That’s not the perspective taught in the New Testament. Again, let me just say, it definitely is good to be aware of “the enemy who goes about as a roaring lion, seeking who he may devour.” (I Pet. 5:8) And it’s certainly true that we need to remain aware of “the sins which do so easily beset us.” (Heb. 12:1)

But even more we need to be mindful of “the blood of Christ which cleanses us from all sin.” (I John 1:7) Instead of constantly voicing our fears and worries about our sins, it would be more fruitful and Godly to praise God for the victories He’s given us over all sin and then to get busy following the prompting of the Holy Spirit as He leads us into all truth and shows us those around us who need our love and friendship.

Maybe some folks need to memorize the verse about “He that is begotten of God keeps himself and that wicked one touches him not.” (I John 5:18) God said in one place, “I also kept you from sinning against me.” (Genesis 20:6) Overemphasizing and accentuating sin is just not what the Lord really wants from us. It’s not “looking unto Jesus”; it’s looking unto our own “old man”, our sinful self instead of the Lord.

So I have gotten that off my heart. I hope it is a help to someone and will help you to have more peace, joy, freedom and power to get going with God instead of dwelling in the valley of your own sinful self. We’re all sinful; we all have battles, that’s why we have so many victories, because we have to keep bringing it all to the Lord. “Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you, He will never suffer the righteous to be moved.” (Psalm 55:22) “Looking unto Jesus…!” (Hebrews 12:2) Not your sinful self.

Many people have heard what Jesus said in one place, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1) And then they’ll say, “Who are we to judge?” Personally I believe that these thoughts have been overused and misapplied to where believers have become emasculated and led to think that passive acquiescence to evil is what they’re called to do.

So let me share some less well known verses which may bring some balance on this subject. In I Corinthians chapter 5, Paul had just effectively excommunicated someone from the Corinthian body of believers for what was a vile wrongdoing. But then, in the next chapter, he went on to reprove and admonish the Corinthian Christians, saying this, “Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?” (I Corinthians 6:2 & 3)

It seems clear from this passage that the well known admonition of “Judge not” that Jesus taught was not to be taken so broadly and universally that it was to hinder believers from “judging righteous judgment”, another of the Lord’s teachings.

In fact, in that verse in John 7:24, He tells us that we actually should judge. The verse in full says, “Judge not according to appearance but judge righteous judgment.” As is so often the case, one passage in Scripture has been seized upon and used out of context to sadly make an imbalanced view of some admonition from God so that it ends up conveying the almost totally wrong idea.

“But Mark, Jesus did say “Judge not”. Are you contradicting Christ, Mark?”

No, of course I am not. Jesus went on to say in that passage, “with what judgment you judge you shall be judged”. And James the Lord’s brother also spoke on this saying, “He shall have judgment without mercy that has showed no mercy. And mercy rejoices against judgment.” (James 2:13) Harsh, hypocritical, myopic judgment was what Jesus was speaking against in Matthew 7.

Jesus was not teaching that we should just all utterly wimp out to where we end up being spineless neutrals, “who-am-I-to-judge”, string-for-a-backbone milquetoasts. But millions of Christians are convinced that this is the proper understanding of Jesus’ words and that “pardon-me-for-living” convictions are some kind of testimony of the love of God.

What a device of the devil! How Satan has disarmed and imprisoned so many children of the Most High to where they are rendered almost utterly useless in the battle that rages about us for the souls of men, for the morals of our nations, for the very lives and hearts of our children. I believe with all within me that the body of Christ around the world should be awake, galvanized and properly trained to be, not spectators but active participants at the forefront of the battle for right or wrong, light or darkness and God or Satan that is raging and intensifying every day.

But if your mantra is, “Who am I to judge?”, you’re already almost eliminated from being the player for God that He so desperately needs you to be.

“But Mark, who am I? I don’t have a seminary degree, Mark! I don’t know what to say, Mark! I tried it one time and someone said something that I didn’t know the answer to!  Mark, that’s what our pastor is for! He’s the one that is supposed to lead souls to Christ, not me! Mark, if people want to know about God, let them go to church!”

That’s why I sadly believe that the Lord will ultimately allow great suffering and tribulation to come upon the nominally Christian nations of the world. They may be saved but the vast majority of Christians are already defeated and disarmed. I believe many millions have saving faith; but for the most part, they’ve gone only a little further.

They may be believers, but very few can be called disciples. Of course there are exceptions to this and there are many who are more broken now, more desperate now that the powers of darkness have taken the high ground so clearly throughout much of the once Christian nations. Some are waking up. Some are fighting back and standing up for the Lord. But it’s a very small minority.

Elijah thought that he was the only one left of the Lord’s true people and he told the Lord that. But the Lord said at that time to him that “there are 7000 in Israel who’ve not bowed the knee to Baal” (I Kings 19:18). And then the Lord in effect told Elijah to get busy. God had someone of the next generation that He wanted Elijah to train, the upcoming prophet Elisha, who actually went on to do twice as many miracles as Elijah.

We just have to stand on the Rock, hold on to our crowns and continue to do all that we can, every single day for the Lord to not just be weak, passive “believers” but active, alive discipleship Christians, truly serving the Lord daily. That’s one thing we can do, we can do what we can to be faithful in our generation. God has to do the miracle; He has to bring the awakening. Or the judgment.

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and in fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. And daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” (Acts 2:42 & 5:42)